Warrendale Knotts Cave

Warrendale Dale Knotts Cave is hidden on Warrendale Knotts 60m above the Settle to Attermire footpath. The cave isn't the easiest to find, located behind a limestone block and a patch of nettles. There are approx 20m of passage, all crawling :-(

Spider Cave

Spider Cave is a high opening in Beacon Scar. The debris strewn passage quickly lowers to a crawl which enters a small chamber. A squeeze through to the left enters a passage which is too narrow to follow :-(

Brent Scar Cave

Brent Scar Cave is a high fissure to the south of Victoria Cave. The passage closes in after about 5 metres :-(

Gaping Gill

This weekend we visited the Gaping Gill winch meet organised by the Craven Pothole Club. Gaping Gill is a pothole descending 104m from the slopes of Ingleborough and entering Britain's largest underground chamber, 140m long and 27m wide.

The first descent was made by Édouard Martel in 1895 by knotted rope and rope ladder. Édouard spent over an hour exploring the Main Chamber before finally returning to the surface. Our descent was made by bosun's chair winched down on a steel cable.

Although a few temporary floodlights are placed in the main chamber it's only just possible to see from the eastern slope to the far west side. After informing the organisers of our whereabouts we went off to climb the east slope and explore the Old East Passage...

Spider

I visited a few caves over the weekend. Now I know how Spider Cave earned it's name - it's full of spiders :-(

Formations in Gough's Cave

Gough's Cave is one of the show caves in Cheddar Gorge, Somerset. The cave was originally know as Sand Hole. A retired local, Richard Cox Gough, spent 8 years excavating the cave before discovering Saint Paul's Chamber and opening it to the public.

In 1903 a human skeleton was discovered just inside the entrance, buried beneath 9000 years of debris. Cheddar Man was about 23 years old when he died and dates from 7150BC. Excavation revealed evidence of human occupation from approx 12000BC to Romano-British times.

Storr's Cave, Ingleton

Storr's Cave has two prominent entrances close to the road east of Ingleton. A large passage joins the two with smaller passages leading off. A low passage to the south descends to a dried up streamway. A narrow passage leads north, waiting to be explored another day ;-)

A hidden third entrance used to be an easy climb to a dry chamber full of small bones. However, the entrance has been enlarged and the chamber strewn with clay and debris from a new passage that's being excavated. I can't help wondering who's digging and what they've discovered :-)

Victoria Cave, King's Scar

Victoria Cave was originally a small opening in King's Scar known as the Fox Holes. In 1837 Michael Horner followed a dog through the opening and discovered a series of chambers. The artefacts discovered inside let to a full scale excavation, enlarging the entrance to it's present size.

The excavation revealed the story of the cave through the ages. 120000 years ago the cave had been a hyena den. Towards the end of the last ice age the cave was a place of refuge for hunter-gatherers and in Romano-British times the cave was used as a shrine.

CaveMaps.org has a detailed map of Victoria Cave. :-)

Caving for the First Time

I still remember my first real adventure. It was October 1991. I'd found two caves on the Ordinance Survey map and decided to explore them, Victoria Cave and Jubilee Cave. Undeterred by the pouring rain I collected a box of candles from the hardware store. :-)

Heading up Constitution Hill and along a footpath I soon reached Clay Pits Plantation. A wild desolate landscape waited for me. Next along a track towards the caves. By the time I arrived darkness had fallen.

I explored the rightmost passage of Jubilee Cave. The candlelight didn't penetrate far, but I could see the cave was far from what I expected. Water trickled down the walls. It was muddy, wet and strewn with boulders. I'd been expecting somewhere warm and dry with a floor of fine sand!

Outside again I found my way through the darkness to Victoria Cave, a huge chasm in the face of the scar. I could only see one side of the cave and the roof was hidden in the shadows. I followed the wall. More water, more mud and two passages to explore - one very low, the other very narrow.

After leaving Victoria Cave I wandered completely lost in a marshy area before I stumbled upon some ruins where I decided to take shelter from the rain. :-)

Setting Up Camp...

A warm place to sleep and a fire to cook supper. What more could an explorer want? :-)

Prehistoric Cave Painting

I took this photo of a cave painting a few months ago.  Is it prehistoric? Take a closer look and let me know what you think and why :-)

Inside Bivi Cave

Here's a closer look at Bivi Cave which is close to the footpath from Settle to the Attermire area.

There's a great view from inside Bivi Cave looking towards Sugar Loaf Hill. The cave is only a couple of metres deep so technically it's classed as a rock shelter.

Bivi Cave, Attermire

In Walks in Limestone Country, Wainwright describes Bivi Cave as a small cave so snug and dry a refugé in wet weather that one regrets going past on a fine day.

Personally I think the nearby Spider Cave is a much better place to shelter. :-)

Cave Formations in Gough's Cave

There are some amazing formations in Gough's Cave, but I can never see what they're supposed to be. What do they look like to you?

Further into Gough's Cave

Further into Gough's Cave something strange is waiting. A slope leads away from the main passage towards a shelved area. This is where the Cheddar Gorge Cheese Company stores their Cave Aged Cheddar for 12 months. Unfortunately I didn't have chance to sample any.

Cheddar Man in Gough's Cave

Cheddar Man is the name given to the oldest complete human skeleton discovered in the U.K., dated to 7150 BC. This replica is displayed in Gough's Cave where the remains were discovered in 1903. DNA testing has revealed descendants of Cheddar Man still live in Cheddar. A ceremonial staff made from reindeer antler, fox teeth and perforated shells were discovered with the remains.

References:

Thomas, N. A Guide to Prehistoric England London: Batsford, 1960.
Sykes, B. The Seven Daughters of Eve London: Bantam Press, 2001.

Reflections of the Swiss Village

The Swiss Village is a formation in Gough's Cave, Cheddar. The picture and clip both show the village's reflection in a shallow pool below the formation.

Beck Head Stream Cave

After climbing down about 3m in a tight rift and wriggling another 5m through a low passage, Beck Head Stream Cave opens out onto the sandy bank of an underground stream.

Not wanting to take my camera any further I took this one photo before braving the icy waters! After wading for ages upstream the passage reaches an underground waterfall and the end of my exploration, Broadbent Falls.